Women's Team Greenville Wrap-Up

Written by Marianne Holt
Edited by the Team

This is the first of hopefully many race reports to come from the Women of the Hincapie/Coca Cola presented by Barkley race team (aka the “ HCCB Women”). We’ll try to highlight the more interesting race happenings including not only how the HCCB Women performed; but we’ll also include the sometimes more interesting aspect of racing including our stories of joy, fear, excitement and success to cover the entire adventures of this awesome women’s team. Enjoy!


GREENVILLE SPRING TRAINING SERIES

Race #1 – Donaldson Center Road Race:
Every year, the Spring Training Series marks the official start of the race season here in the Southeast. A few of the HCCB Women had already raced this season, a couple even internationally, but this was our official start and we had our full contingent for the season debut.

As expected, Lara Cassidy and Marianne Holt arrived very early to ensure a proper warm-up on this early, cold February Saturday. The rest of the team: Bridgette McLean, Deb Elliott, Lauren Trull, Lisa Preslar, and Lori Harkey arrived just in time to dress and race to the start. Our primary objective for the day and for the entire Series was to shake out the cob webs and get our legs and lungs ready for another season of racing. We also wanted to use this series to learn more about racing together as a team. Our team training rides during the off-season were limited due to school, work and family commitments so this was really our first opportunity to ride together as a team. We planned to take advantage of this training series to determine how we each could contribute most to the success of the team. Our Director Sportif Extraordinaire, Chris Harkey set our simple and clear strategy for the race: ride the first three laps, then race the last two. This was great since the warm-up for most of the team was the ride from the parking lot to the start line!

The great thing about the Spring Training Series, in addition to the fact that it is the official start of the race season in the Southeast, is the huge fields that it attracts, especially for the women’s races. The challenge with the Spring Training Series is the huge fields that it attracts! Many racers use this as their initiation into racing. After all it IS a training series. However, it can be daunting for the new racer and seasoned racer as well with the mix of strength, skills and experience. On this first day of the Series, the women’s field was 50 strong with over half of the women at the entry level Category 4. It truly is great to see so many women racing but it does make for some interesting racing and handling in these first few races of the season.

The race went as planned with a few attacks in the first three laps but no threatening breaks got away. During the fourth lap, Lara launched successive attacks on the hills on the back side of the course and wore down the tiring peloton. As we crossed the railroad tracks for the long, flat, windy last couple of miles, Marianne moved to the front to try and give Lauren a leadout or at least protect her from the wind in the inevitable sprint finish.

Lees-McCrae College had some strong girls in the race. Kacey Manderfield, a strong overall rider and powerful sprinter was supported by Carla Swart and others. We knew that Kacey was the one to watch in the sprint. Coming into the last mile, it appeared Carla was setting up for the leadout for Kacey. Susan Jones was on Kacey’s wheel with Lauren and me in tow. Much to our surprise, Carla not only led out the sprint but kept up the pace to take the win with Lauren outsprinting Kacey to take 2nd. Kacey finished 3rd, Susan Jones 4th and Marianne finished (a best-ever for Donaldson Center) 5th. The rest of the HCCB Women finished strong in the field.

Race #2 – BMW Performance Center Crit:
There’s nothing quite like racing a short, fast crit in February to wake up those fast twitch muscle fibers!! Combine that with wind, cold, overcast skies, threatening rain and a 30+ minute delay due to a serious crash in the previous race; we were more than ready to get this race underway. Lauren had told us that she wasn’t feeling well due to her esophageal spasms so we were going to try to get Lori or Marianne in a break.

Lara started the race from the gun by attacking at the line. The field was immediately strung out while everyone searched for a wheel. This set the tone for the entire race. There were attacks after relentless attacks. When no one was attacking, the field would bunch up with everyone trying to stay out of the wind. But the slow down never lasted long as several teams seemed determine to establish a break. But once again, the race came down to the inevitable field sprint. With everyone fighting for position the group really slowed in the last lap. Thankfully, Lori launched an awesome attack on the back side of the course and strung out most of the field. This brought the pace back up to speed for the finish, perfect for setting up Lauren for the win. And win she did! Alright!! Our first of many wins to come this season. Unfortunately there was a mid-field crash on the last turn and several of the HCCB Women were caught behind it but luckily we all stayed upright.

A great start for the first weekend of racing for the Women of the Hincapie/Coca Cola presented by Barkley race team!!

Special Note: Thanks to our Bell Helmet sponsor Hogan Properties, and Team Manager, Adam Little, we received our new helmets on Saturday night before the race. This provided some much needed protection to our noggins in the cool-looking, great fitting Sweep R helmets in today’s race. Thanks again to Hogan Properties of Greenville, SC for their support.

Race #3 – Fork Shoals Road Race:
The Fork Shoals Road Race course was familiar to all of us since it was used as the NC and SC State Road Race Championship in 2007. And we had our own NC Women’s Category 4 champion with us, Lara Cassidy. So it was sure to be a good race for the HCCB Women! We had the full contingent again for this race sans Deb Elliott who was off doing secret training in the hills of North Carolina.

The Fork Shoals course has something for everyone: long hills, short power hills, steep, curvy descents and long, windy flats. (There was even a grassy hill near the start for Lauren to show-off her cross skills. She had returned to the car to apply one more coat of chamois cream and had to take the shortcut to make it back just before the start!) As expected, the race was very active with several teams represented and numerous attempts to establish a break. Just after crossing the start/finish line into the second lap, pro mountain biker and powerhouse Tanya Nestvogel attacked and pulled away solo. She was nearly out of site before most of the peloton realized she was away. Lisa moved to the front to seemingly begin the chase, but we think that she really just wanted to be at the front so she could wave to her 10-month old daughter, Lena and husband Neil, camped out in the feed zone!

Half-way up the stair-step climb, Casey Gale attacked establishing a threatening gap. In response, Marianne jumped bringing Harris Teeter rider (and winner of the early season Sanford Road Race), Lauren Beastall with her. The three worked together for a while, dropping one rider then gaining a BMW rider. By this time the breakaway riders were tiring and the peloton was quickly on them. In a perfectly timed move, Lori countered and established a new break with Kim Potter and Casey Gale. These three riders worked together to chase down Tanya, still on her solo breakaway. The rest of the HCCB Women established a very effective block at the front of the peloton. We were happy for the respite and happy to get mountain goat Lori in the break since there were several tough hills still to go.

In the third and final lap of the race, Lauren Beastall attacked with BMW rider Jennifer Petosa on her wheel to establish the second break of the day. Concerned with stirring up the peloton into chasing the earlier break with Lori, the HCCB Women were happy to sit on the front and let the two-rider breakaway go. Soon the blocking turned from welcome respite into tough duty at the front fighting the wind. Lauren bore the brunt of it with the wind at her side while Marianne and Lisa traded turns at the front. Lara tried her best to work her way to the front and give us some relieve from the wind but found it difficult to move through the tight pack on the narrow roads. She finally was able to power her way to the front and once she was there, she didn’t stop. Lara motored on the front for the last 4 – 5 miles of the race, pulling the tired peloton on the flat roads into the fierce headwind. She took us into the right turn down the steep descents and up the last climb before the final turn 1K from the finish. Still hammering at the front Lara outsprinted the shattered peloton and finished an impressive 7th with Lauren right behind her in 8th. Lori took 4th place in the break placing highest for the day for the HCCB Women.

We were all tired after this race, but ecstatic with how quickly we were learning how we could each contribute to the success of the team. We couldn’t wait to race again the next day at the Donaldson Center!

Race #4 – Donaldson Center Road Race:
After a 2nd and 5th place finish here last week, we really wanted a win today!! We knew what to do and where to be, we just had to follow-through. Just as last weekend, there were numerous attacks during this race, but on the last lap, the field was all together and slowing so we knew it was going to be another sprint finish. Just after the railroad tracks, Lara repeated her move from Saturday and hammered to the front. The wind and the effort from the day before began to take it’s toll on her so Marianne took over for the final leadout effort. This was great except we started about one mile too early! Marianne went into time trial mode with Lauren on her wheel, singing words of encouragement and trying her best to keep Marianne from cracking. Finally with over 500 meters to go, Marianne pulled over with nothing left, leaving Lauren in the wind to attempt one of her longest sprints ever. Amazingly, Lauren was able to hold off the charging peloton to win with Deb Whitmore a close 2nd and Susan Jones coming in 3rd. Our only Cat 4 racer, Bridgette McLean finished an impressive 9th! The rest of the HCCB Women finished in the field, tired but ecstatic with the team win!

Race #5 – River Falls Road Race:
This was to be our last race of the Spring Series since we all had family and other obligations for Sunday. It would be less than truthful to say that most of the team was excited to be here. It is actually a great course and we couldn’t wait to continue our winning streak from last Sunday. But with temperatures forecasted to be in the high 30’s, “feels like” temps in the 20’s, cloudy skies, 20 mph winds gusting to 45 mph and a 30% chance of rain or snow this was not exactly ideal weather for bike racing. But race, we did!

The River Falls road course has a steep, tough, half-mile climb that we would have to cover 5 times during our race. As had been the case for the entire series, the women’s field was 40+ with many strong women. The sun was shining when our race started so maybe this was a good sign? The attacks began on the first lap, but nothing got away. As we started the climb to finish the first lap, Lara went to the front and pushed the pace. This was just the beginning of shedding many riders in the peloton. The race went on with several attacks and finally Kacy Manderfield from Lees McCrae College attacked to get away by herself. No one chased initially and she was quickly out of sight. We finally chased but could not get organized well enough to gain any time. It was beginning to look like we were now racing for second place.

Half-way up the climb in the fourth lap, there was a field split, with all of the HCCB Women on the wrong side of the split! Finally, Lauren, Lara and Marianne went to the front and worked hard to bring the field back together. About the time we were all together, we begin to feel the cold sensation of rain and sleet. Just what we needed to make our tired legs scream for relief! The fast pace continued and we were all spent by the time we turned to make the climb one last time. We ended the day with a 10th place finish for Lauren, and 13th, 14th and 15th respectively for Lara, Lori and Marianne. Bridgette finished solo after stopping three different times for a mechanical problem. Kudos to Bridgette for toughing it out and still placing 5th in the Cat 4 group!


Breaking News: Lauren placed second in the Spring Training Series Omnium. Way to go Lauren!!

Overall we agreed that we raced a very successful Spring Series and are looking forward to the upcoming Out Like A Lion Race Weekend!